A major leak of Credit Suisse, the second-biggest Swiss bank, has exposed over 18,000 accounts of clients involved in drug trafficking, corruption, money laundering and other serious crimes. A whistle-blower shared his findings with a German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, which then involved an anti-corruption group and 46 other media outlets around the world.
Reports say Credit Suisse’s account holders included a Yemeni spy chief implicated in torture, Venezuelan officials involved in a corruption scandal and sons of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak. It also includes a human trafficker in the Philippines, a Hong Kong stock exchange boss jailed for bribery, a billionaire who ordered the murder of his Lebanese pop star girl friend and executives who looted Venezuela’s state oil company.
According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the accounts had been opened from the 1940s into the 2010s. Paul Radu, a co-founder of OCCRP, highlighted that he has too often seen criminals and corrupt politicians who can afford to keep on business as usual, no matter what the circumstances. He reasoned it as they have the certainty that their ill-gotten gains will be kept safe. “Our investigation exposes how these people can bypass regulation despite their crimes, to the detriment of democracies and people all over the world.”
The whistle-blower, as per OCCRP, said the pretext of protecting financial privacy is merely a fig leaf covering the shameful role of Swiss banks as collaborators of tax evaders. “This situation enables corruption and starves developing countries of much-needed tax revenue.”
The New York Times pointed out that Swiss banks is world-renowned for the country’s strict secrecy laws protecting clients. But they aren’t supposed to accept money linked to criminal activity, the law is mostly enforced. However, Credit Suisse has rejected the accusations made about its business practices. “The matters presented are predominantly historical, in some cases dating back as far as the 1940s, and the accounts of these matters are based on partial, inaccurate or selective information taken out of context, resulting in tendentious interpretations of the bank’s business conduct.”
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The bank highlighted that about 90% of the accounts in the leak had been closed or were in the process of being closed before media inquiries began. “It is comfortable that the remaining accounts were vetted properly.” Credit Suisse added that it couldn’t comment on individual clients and that its already taken action at the relevant times to address improper clients.
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